For 100 years now, Irish republicans have refused to validate British
sovereignty over the island of Ireland by sitting in the parliament of
Westminster. As an abstentionist Sinn Fein MP, I can provide an Irish
republican perspective on this issue.

To the British public, it may seem strange to stand for election to an
institution and then refuse to participate in that institution. For
British citizens with a progressive world view, and those with an
anti-Brexit disposition, it might appear logical to take these seats,
and for British MPs that is entirely logical - because the Westminster
parliament is the democratic institution that makes decisions on behalf
of the British people.

In recent weeks, in the light of Brexit negotiations and the
Conservatives’ fragile majority propped up by the Democratic Unionist
party, there have been calls from various quarters for Sinn Fein MPs to
abandon the Irish republican principle of abstentionism and take part in
the British parliament. A debate has opened up around this principle,
particularly for a British audience which may not be aware of its
political significance in Ireland.

Westminster does not now act - and never has acted - other than in the
interests of Britain. As our difficult and troubled history tells us,
the interests of the Irish people have rarely been the concern of the
British government or parliament. In fact, these institutions have often
acted against the interests of the Irish people - not just in the past,
but as we are seeing now, through the efforts to drag us out of Europe
against the democratically expressed wishes of the people in the north
of Ireland.

The crucial point here is that we are not British MPs. We are Irish MPs
and we believe the interests of the Irish people can only be served by
democratic institutions on the island of Ireland. Sinn Fein goes to the
electorate seeking a mandate for that position. We are elected as MPs by
people who vote for Sinn Fein not to take seats at Westminster.

As MPs, therefore, we take no part in the Westminster parliament but in
every other way we provide active representation for our constituents.
We engage with British political parties, civic society and the Irish
diaspora in Britain. We challenge the British government directly in our
meetings with them. We lobby on constituents’ issues, and on all the
political matters that affect the Irish people. We do all of this
without drawing a salary from Westminster, or by taking our seats in the
British parliament.

Fundamentally, we believe that Britain and its political institutions
should have no part in governing the people of Ireland. Why then, as
Irish citizens, would we want to make decisions on behalf of the people
of Britain?

The nature of the political and economic implications of British rule in
Ireland has changed during this century, but the desire of Irish people
to determine our own fortunes has not wilted.

The view of Westminster from Belfast is profoundly different to the view
from Brighton or Bradford. Many Irish citizens in the north of Ireland
view Westminster as a parliament that facilitated and supported 50 years
of anti-Irish apartheid and supremacist sectarian rule in their towns
and villages. They see a parliament that excused and endorsed the murder
of Irish citizens by the British state during a period of conflict.

They see Westminster as the parliament that has denied them basic
economic and political sovereignty, and decimated public services and
social protections for the most vulnerable citizens.

Westminster is not their parliament, and never will be. That was
demonstrated most cynically when, in 1981, the people of Fermanagh and
South Tyrone elected the hunger striker Bobby Sands as their MP. Rather
than recognise him as a political prisoner (how much more political can
you get?), the Westminster parliament voted to stop this happening
again. The lesson for the electorate of Fermanagh and South Tyrone, and
the Irish people more widely, was clear: if we don’t like who you elect,
we will change the rules to prevent you doing this.

The Irish people now see a parliament that runs roughshod over the
integrity of their democratically expressed decision by enforcing Brexit
upon them, threatening disruption to their border communities, and to
their most basic rights and livelihoods.

The people of Ireland will not find a solution to Brexit in the
parliament that is imposing it. On Brexit, Irish people in the north
look to Sinn Fein, to the Irish government, the Irish parliament and to
Europe to defend their interests.

Westminster cannot provide the solutions when Westminster is the
problem. Its role in Ireland has never been positive. Numerically,
culturally and politically, the people of Ireland are inconsequential to
Britain’s ambitions.

Westminster has always turned its back on the people of Ireland, so the
people have turned their backs resolutely on the British parliament.

This year republicans and progressives in Ireland celebrate the election
of the first female MP to the British parliament 100 years ago. Her name
was Constance Markievicz. She never sat in the Westminster parliament.
She was an Irish republican, a feminist, a socialist, and a member of
Sinn Fein elected on an abstentionist mandate - rejecting Britain’s
claim to sovereignty over Ireland.

One hundred years later I am proud to follow in the footsteps of radical
pioneers such as Markievicz.

In 2017, I and other MPs were elected on a mandate to actively abstain
from Westminster. We intend to honour that mandate.

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